When I first arrived in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand I was a bit sad from leaving the Perhentians plus it was the first bit of proper traveling on my own! So I straight away booked onto a 3 day Hill Tribe Trek to keep myself occupied! Day one began with a ride on an elephant for an hour which was fun - especially the cute little baby elephant who followed us along the way, getting under the other elephants' feet and being mischievous! Aw! The rest of the day we hiked up into the hills (not easy in the humid Thai air!) to an isolated village (of around 20 families) where we stayed. The views were stunning and there were no roads or other villages for as far as you could see! The wooden huts were basic and the village had no electricity so we spent the night singing songs by candle light! The next day we spent trekking down into the valley along with a little dog from the village who join our group! On the last day we got to do some rafting down the river - not as extreme as New Zealand but the Thai Health and Safety (or lack of) made it just as scary!

Back in Chiang Mai, me and 2 friends from the Trek, Anna and Davi, explored the old town of Chiang Mai which mostly involved shopping - in particular at Chiang Mai's amazing Sunday Walking Streets - endless roads of market stalls selling everything- as you can imagine I loved it but was not good for my bank balance! Oops!